Monthly archive:

PEFC grows its membership in Africa with addition of Ghana

Ghana has joined PEFC becoming its third member in Africa alongside Cameroon and Gabon.

"Joining the PEFC Alliance is a vital step towards gaining international recognition for our Ghanaian National Forest Certification System," said Emmanuel Amoah Boakye from the Working Group on Forest Certification."Once our system has achieved PEFC endorsement, our country’s forest owners, forestry companies and the whole forestry sector will be able to demonstrate their sustainable forest management practices, here and abroad."

"While there was already a Ghanaian national standard for the sustainable management of natural forests and plantations, the PEFC Collaboration Fund supported us as we developed the other aspects of a certification system, such as the Group Certification requirements and a Chain of Custody Standard," Mr. Boakye added.

"It is fantastic to welcome Ghana as the latest member of the PEFC Alliance," said Ben Gunneberg, CEO of PEFC International, following the announcement. "Through our Collaboration Fund, we have been providing financial and technical support for the development of the Ghanaian national forest certification system, so it is wonderful to see the country take an important step towards PEFC endorsement by becoming a PEFC member."

Ghana follows Hungary as the latest country whose membership can be traced back to seed funding provided through a PEFC Collaboration Fund project.

Thailand moves forward towards PEFC membership

The event represented an opportunity to debate the Thai national forest certification system and the developments in sustainable trade and production of wood-based products.

“Now that the Thailand Forest Certification Council is officially registered within FTI we have completed all the requirements and look forward to becoming a member of PEFC,” announced Dr. Nihkom, Chair of the TFCC. “Joining PEFC’s international alliance will give Thailand prominence and recognition for all the work we are doing to advance sustainability within our country.”

“I would like to congratulate all the stakeholders who have worked so hard over the past years to achieve this significant step towards the PEFC endorsement of a Thai Forest Certification System,” said Mr. Gunneberg, as he made the announcement. “We look forward to welcoming Thailand as a National member once they have been voted in by our PEFC members.”

PEFC International publishes its Annual Review 2015

The report - downloadable here - contains a summary of the most relevant activities developed by PEFC throughout 2015 along with interesting figures and facts.

In details, the Annual Review shows that: - At the end of 2015 272 million hectares of forests worldwide were PEFC certified; - North America and Asia achieved the biggest increase in PEFC-certified forest area, growing by over 7 million and 6 million hectares; - China alone gained 5.6 million certified hectares; - 750,000 forest owners were PEFC-certified; - France, Germany and the UK were the top countries in terms of Chain of Custody certificates issued; - Over 17,700 companies in the world benefited from PEFC's Chain of Custody certification; - 20 countries were developing a PEFC system or preparing to apply for endorsement.

“For me, the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the 193 countries of the UN General Assembly was one of the most remarkable achievements of 2015, next to the Paris Agreement,” said Ben Gunneberg, CEO of PEFC International, commenting on one of the key events of last year.

"For us at PEFC, the SDGs help us to better communicate the holistic nature of our work. They recognize the positive contributions of forests rather than treating them merely as a threatened natural resource that requires conservation."

The ACP will apply to all LEED v4 rating systems including Homes v4 and to all LEED 2009 rating systems.

With LEED now including PEFC-certified timber, construction projects can in the future obtain both LEED and PEFC Project Chain of Custody certification. This will substantially help the Green Building movement - from architects and builders to specifiers and planners - develop innovative and environmentally friendly design.

Using timber from certified sources helps achieve Excellent and Outstanding BREEAM ratings and helps meet Passivhaus performance levels. It also plays a pivotal role in satisfying the requirements of Part L and Part E of the Building Regulations.

“Sustainable, PEFC-certified timber provides architects and the construction industry with great opportunities,” said Ben Gunneberg, CEO of PEFC International. “The possibilities are rather exciting in helping to address challenges such as climate change, growing populations and urbanisation, especially as wood offers innovative building solutions with a minimal environmental footprint.”

“The construction industry is one of the largest buyers of timber products – this means the sector is very influential in determining which type of timber is in demand,” added Mr Gunneberg. “With PEFC-certified timber offering the widest choice of sustainable timber available to architects, specifiers and designers, we are poised to see an increase of wood used in construction globally.”

The new publication - available online here - explains the origins of both certification systems, how they came into being, and also helps to clearly explain each of the standards and their definitions.

At the same time the brochure also represents a useful resource tool for certified companies. Both global sustainable forest management certification systems share the same goals of ensuring that forests are managed in line with challenging environmental, social and economic requirements – balancing people, planet and profit.

Worldwide more than 260 million hectares of forests are PEFC certified. The Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification supplies more than 16,000 Chain of Custody certified companies with responsibly sourced timber and wood products, such as those used in producing fibre-based paper products such as packaging.

Regarding FSC, in March 2016 the organisation reached the milestone of 30,000 certificates supplied across the timber supply chain. All over the world, around 50,000 independent companies and organizations are estimated to buy, manufacture, trade or sell FSC-certified material and products.